Effective Project Management Gantt Chart & Pareto Diagram

Project management can be a difficult task, depending on the project you're involved with. Project management involves 5 different steps: initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work when the goals are met.

Doing a successful project management is different from running a successful business. Due to the short period of time involved with any project management, the management strategies, and technical skills are different from the ones required to manage a business, which is usually more stable, permanent and repetitive.

Project management has a lot of challenges, and the first one starts by defining the project goals and constraints. This is the first thing you have to create so you can then establish how the project is going to take place.

There are many constraints when you're managing a project (that you usually don't have when you're running a business). When someone talks to you to see if you're available to be a project manager, the first thing you think about is time and budget. But there are other primary constraints such as the quality and the scope of the project.

So, how can you effectively be a project manager?There are some tools you can use that will help get your work done, in time, and within the budget.

Gantt Charts

If your project is complex, you need to turn to project management Gantt charts. They will help you with both planning and scheduling. They show all the tasks that need to be completed in a project, their order, and they're presented against a time scale. This visual representation of the project shows you, at a glance, what has been done, what needs to be done, if you're running late in any task, etc.

So, to make sure you have your project management Gantt chart, you need to be very thorough with all people who are working on the project. You'll need to know who's responsible for each task, how long will each task take, what problems may arise when they are working on the project, etc. Your job is to know exactly what will be done, by who, how long they need to get it done and try to predict any problem that may arise.

Pareto Diagram

The Pareto diagram is a simple tool that can also help you with project management. You can use it to:

- Display the inputs that matter most in a visual format;
- Help the team to focus on the most important inputs.

There are other tools that can help you with project management but these are the most useful. You can not only have a detailed step-by-step plan to follow, where you include every single task, everyone who's working on the project, and the time needed for each task, by using the Gantt charts. As you can also have another visual format - using a Pareto diagram - that will show the most important tasks your team needs to work on. ​

​Watch a video on how to create a project management Gantt chart

The Pareto Rule Explained

The Pareto Principle also is commonly known as the “80-20 rule.” This principle was first brought to the world by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in 1896. The so-called Pareto Rule remains a primary principle even in today’s global economy and contemporary life.

​Original Pareto Rule Proposition

Authoring his first published paper while at the University of Lausanne, Pareto pointed out that around 80 percent of Italian property was owned by 20 percent of the Italian population. Pareto apparently didn’t envision his observation would become such a popular principle with the world’s businesses.

Pareto’s original proposition concerned the percentages of populations and distribution of wealth. Ironically, the Pareto Rule had its origins in a vegetable garden – yes, a vegetable garden. The inspiration for Pareto to create his theorem: He noticed that only 20 percent of the peapods he planted in his garden grew 80 percent of the peas.

Proving the Pareto Rule

Statistics display time after time that the Pareto Rule is much more than an isolated theory. It has become an “economic fact.” This rule applies, not only to business, but to other areas of life. For example, consider the following rules of thumb.

80 percent of a volunteer committee is completed by 20 percent of its members.

80 percent of a charity’s money raising is generated by 20 percent of the fundraisers.

As you can see, the Pareto Rule applies to more than merely economics and business operating results. This principle works for a multitude of not-for-profit and volunteer boards, committees, and every task or project needs completion.

The Pareto Principle and Computer Science

This principle also impacts software engineering and outstanding software performance. A good example: Microsoft. The global organization found that, by developing patches for the most significant 20 percent of bugs in new software, they could eliminate around 80 percent of the user-reported errors.

Also, when engineers write new software, “20 percent of the code has 80 percent of the errors. . . .” There are numerous additional examples of the Pareto findings in the health and safety arena and other areas.

Healthcare and Criminology

In the US, studies show that 20 percent of all patients use 80 percent of healthcare services and medical resources. Criminology is not slighted either. Multiple research efforts display that 80 percent of all reported crimes are perpetrated by around 20 percent of known criminals.

This Principle Continues to be Proven in Everyday Life

Should you poll a random sample of people without targeting any demographic group, you’ll find that at least 80 percent of them remember witnessing the Pareto Rule in various situations in their everyday lives. If they serve as volunteers for any cause, even Little League, people have no doubt witnessed this principle in action. The small minority of people involved, approximately 20 percent, will complete around 80 percent of the work.

How Pareto Analysis Can Change Your Life

Pareto analysis for best exam preparation

The name Vilfredo Pareto may or may not be familiar to you, but this Italian economist is responsible for coming up with one of the most powerful concepts referred as Pareto principle or 80/20 rule. In 1900’s he noticed in his yard that different pea plants yielded different amount of peas. When looked closer he realized that 80% of peas came from 20% of pea plants. The consistency of this occurrence sparked Pareto’s curiosity and led him to explore Italy’s economy. He discovered that 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population. 80/20 principle and related Pareto analysis came to being.

However, the application of this rule is not limited to the land distribution. It applies to a wide variety of things in life. It is the idea that 20% of causes account for 80% of outcomes. Conversely, according to Pareto analysis 80% of causes are responsible for only 20% of results. This is a very powerful principle. It tells us that we are going to get the highest return on the effort focusing on vital few as opposed to wasting energy on trivial many which have relatively small impact on what we are trying to achieve. Let’s put the rule in context.

We all know that preparing for exams (college, high school, professional certification etc.) is no fun and is always a challenge. There is not enough time to fully digest the material. We have limited span of attention. So how Pareto analysis can help us be more productive in exam preparation? Remember 20% of causes account for 80% of outcomes. In terms of exam preparation this means that focusing on a critical core of the preparation material will yield the best exam achievement. So instead of trying to ingest everything and spread thin on the critical material, it is better to concentrate on the core material which may account for the majority of questions and skim the rest.

Enjoy mingling with 20% of people

Not all the people give us the same joy of socializing. Most of us probably bond better with a handful of people. Spending time with such people tends to be more pleasant and enriching. And then there are other people who we interact with, but these interactions seem shallow and not as meaningful. If you noticed, I applied Pareto analysis to this situation. Interacting with 20% of people gives us 80% of joy and enrichment from human interactions. Hence, in the era of limited time and stress, it may not be a bad idea to spend more time with 20% of people who make us happy and inspire rather than mingling with the people who are negative or offer little social value.

Rethink your workout with Pareto principle

80/20 principle is so powerful that it can improve your health and help you achieve fitness goals quicker by refocus your workout. But before we get to this, do you work out? If you work out keep reading, if not, start working out and come back and read this later. Just kidding. Go on. So assuming you work out, you may know how frustrating it gets when we pursue a workout and do not see results which we expect based on the invested effort. We run and do not lose enough weight. We do crunches but the fat on the belly does not seem to be becoming smaller. The shoulders do not get pumped despite numerous dumbbell lifting. However, lack of results can be avoided by applying Pareto analysis to the workout routine. If crunches do not help becoming ripped than maybe you are doing the wrong crunches. Think about the crunches in terms of Pareto principle: not all crunches are created equal. A handful of crunch varieties will help you achieve the largest gains. For example, according to the researchers at Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University bicycle crunch exercise, captain’s chair exercise and crunch on the exercise ball are the most effective crunch types. Therefore, doing these crunches will help you achieve the best results compared to other crunch types. So this is your 20% which leads to 80% of outcomes. This logic can be applied to any exercise.

Of course applying Pareto analysis to real life situations is not always straightforward. It is often impossible to know what constitutes the 20% which accounts for the majority of outcomes. However keeping in mind that frequently a handful of causes/factors lead to majority of outcomes is a powerful notion. Using this principle can significantly increase your success rate and lead to tangible self-improvement.